12 cats in classical art to celebrate Cat Day

Barber Shop with
Monkeys and Cats, Abraham Teniers (1629-1670)

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February 22 is Japan's Cat Day — the Japanese word for
"two" (ni) sounds like the Japanese word for "cat" (nyan),
so when spoken aloud, the date 22/2 sounds like "meow meow meow". (For
real!)

To celebrate this auspicious date, here are some of
history's finest samples of cat art — starting with this masterwork by Flemish
artist Abraham Teniers, who specialised in the genre singerie, or "monkey
scene". These works depicted monkeys in human clothes, doing human
things... like cutting cats' hair.

16th century rocket
cats

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Illustrations from a German manual on artillery and siege
warfare that was created around 1530 show what appears to be cat with a rocket
strapped to its back. "Set fire to a castle or city which you can't get at
otherwise," the text helpfully advises. Fortunately for the cats, there's
no historical evidence they were as Molotov cocktails. According to University of
Pennsylvania researcher Mitch Fraas, the images are harebrained
"what-ifs" rather than reality.

Ancient Egypt

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As every cat lover knows, the ancient Egyptians worshipped cats, and the revered animals show up in scores of artworks. The left sculpture
depicts the goddess Bastet, who was represented either as a cat or as a woman with
a cat's head, while the right-most painting is from the tomb of a high-ranking
Egyptian couple, and shows their cat playing under their chairs. (AFP)

Cat Devouring A Bird,
Pablo Picasso (1939)

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Picasso's paintings of his wife Jacqualine's cat tearing
apart a hapless bird seem like violent nature scenes. But the gruesome subject, which
"obsessed" Picasso, actually symbolised the civil war which ravaged
his native Spain in the 1930s.

25 Cats Name Sam and
One Blue Pussy, Andy Warhol (1954)

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Though best known for his commentaries on pop culture, Warhol
printed this series of cat works in 1954 (his mother left the D of
"named" in the title, an error Warhol liked so much he never fixed it).
The artist supposedly started hoarding cats when he feared his moggy Hester
would grow lonely. Eventually he amassed 25 of them — all named Sam.

La Grande Parade des
Chats, Leonor Fini (1973)

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Argentine surrealist Leonor Fini was renowned for her
depictions of women — and feminine cats, evidently. This work is part of a trove of feline art collected by New Yorker (and ardent cat lover) Marianne
C. Gourary, which was auctioned off by Bloomsbury in 2015.

Chat Noir sur un Journal,
Henri-Charles Guerard (19th century)

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Another item in Gourary's collection, this artwork is by
French painter Henri-Charles Guerard — and proves that humanity was obsessed
with posing cats to look like they were reading long before the internet came
along.

The Widow, Frederick
Dielman (late 19th century)

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Further proof that bizarro cat pictures predate the
internet: German artist Frederick Dielman's rendering of a kitten in an
Elizabethan ruff, one of the early examples of kitsch — mass-produced art
deemed inferior and tasteless. (No matter what the era, no-one appreciates a
funny cat picture.)

White Cat, M.C.
Escher (1919)

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Best known for his highly detailed, brain-melting works that
messed with geometry, Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher could not resist the
allure of cats, which show up in several of his woodcuts.

The Fall of Man, Hendrick
Goltzius (1616)

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Adam and Eve chowing down on that apple and permanently
ruining everything for the rest of humanity is a popular subject of
Renaissance-era art. This work was painted by Dutchman Hendrick Goltzius, a
famous artist in his day and a guy familiar with cats'
effortlessly judgemental glares. The feline in the foreground of this painting indicates
"that you are intended to judge and understand the consequences of
succumbing to temptation".

The Fall of Man, Cornelis
van Haarlem (1592)

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Fellow Dutch artist Cornelis van Haarlem also inserted a cat
into his depiction of the fall of man — although his is cuddling up to a
monkey. In this case, "the cat is firmly in the grip of an ape, as Eve was used by Satan as his instrument for the fall". No arguments that the image
of a simian-feline union is indeed a demonic one.

The Fall of Man, Cornelis van Haarlem (1592) — detail

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The Siamese Cats, Kiyoshi
Saito (1954)

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Japanese artist Kiyoshi Saitō specialised in an art movement
called sōsaku-hanga, or "creative prints". This woodcut of two
Siamese cats is held by the New York Public Library.